Chapter 12 - The Truth Has a PriceI wanted to destroy the screen.
Instead, I asked the only question that mattered.
“How do we beat her?”
Daniel looked at me.
“We don't.”
“What?”
“We expose her.”
He pulled out his phone.
“I've been recording everything.”
Mark stared at him.
“You have evidence?”
“Enough.”
I looked at the camera above the corridor.
“Then broadcast it.”
Daniel hesitated.
“To whom?”
“Everyone.”
He stared at me.
“That's not how this works.”
“Then make it work.”
The countdown kept moving.
07:32.
We uploaded the documents.
The research agreements.
The forged consent forms.
The financial transfers.
The genetic records.
The photographs.
Everything.
Within seconds, journalists began contacting Daniel.
Then lawyers.
Then authorities.
Then people we had never met.
The company's private network began collapsing under the weight of exposure.
Dr. Vance came over the speakers.
“You think publicity will save her?”
“No,” I said.
“I know exactly how this ends.”
“Then why are you still talking?”
Silence.
Then she laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“Your mother didn't create the trust to protect you.”
My stomach tightened.
“What are you saying?”
“She created it to control the research.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Thirty-two million dollars was only the beginning.”
Daniel looked at me.
Dr. Vance continued.
“Your mother owned part of the original laboratory.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She was a patient.”
“She was an investor.”
I couldn't speak.
Everything I thought I knew about my mother was wrong.
“She didn't try to stop the program,” Dr. Vance said.
“She wanted to control it.”
I shook my head.
“You're lying.”
“Ask your mother.”
The speakers went dead.
My phone rang.
The same unknown number.
I answered.
My mother's voice was crying.
“Rachel.”
“Is it true?”
Silence.
“Mom?”
“Yes.”
My chest collapsed.
“You funded them?”
“I thought I could stop them from the inside.”
“You lied to me.”
“I was protecting you.”
“Everybody says that.”
“I made mistakes.”
“Emily is paying for them.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me how to save her.”
My mother was silent.
Then:
“There is one way.”
“What?”
“You need to open the original trust.”
“Where?”
“Under the house.”
I looked at Daniel.
“What?”
“The foundation.”
“We don't have time.”
“You have eight minutes.”
I stopped.
“How do you know?”
“Because I can see the same countdown.”
My mother could see it.
She was connected to the system.
“She is still with you,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Dr. Vance.”
I froze.
“What do you mean?”
My mother started crying.
“She took me twenty years ago.”
I stared at the empty corridor.
“Sarah Vance has been using my mother.”
“No.”
“Then who have I been speaking to?”
Silence.
Then the voice on the phone said:
“I don't know.”
The line went dead.
Daniel stared at me.
“Rachel.”
“What?”
“That wasn't your mother.”
I felt a chill.
“How do you know?”
“Because your mother died twenty-two years ago.”
I looked at the phone.
The countdown showed:
04:11.
Someone had been pretending to be my mother.
Someone knew enough about her to fool me.
Someone was still inside the system.
Then Emily screamed.
I ran toward the door.
And saw Dr. Vance standing behind her.
May you like
She wasn't alone.
Mark was with her.
